When should I start feeding my baby the "other" cereals besides the rice cereal?

Question

By "other" I mean the oatmeal,barely,mixed, ect......... I would like to know in detail please! My baby is 4 1/2 months old and we have been feeding him rice cereal since he was 4 months old. He is doing great! He swallows and occasionally some comes out but he eats probably 2 TBSP once a day, with 3-4 oz of formula before the cereal to take the edge off his hunger first. (so his isn't screaming because he is so hungry) I read something about a week in between each one for allergy purposes, but I haven't been able to find to much info. and I failed to ask my doctor, and he doesn't see him until his 6 month check up. Oh and he doesn't have any health concerns or anything, so any answers would be fantastic! Thank you!

Answer 1

You'd be fine to start introducing more foods at this point. Space each new food about 4 or more days apart to isolate potential allergies. You don't have to be restricted merely to cereals either, you can introduce carrots, bananas, peas, green beans, applesauce, squash, and sweet potatoes. You can find more on introducing solids on www.babycenter.com

Foods to avoid: honey (never before 1 year old), peanut butter (minimum age 2, 3 if there is a family allergy history), strawberries (12 months), citrus fruits and juices (12 months).

Answer 2

I would go ahead and try other ones. But like you said, try one at a time and wait about a week before trying something different for allergy reasons. You should do that with all the baby food. Wait at least a few days anyway so if the baby is allergic you will know exactly what he is allergic to.

Answer 3

You should always feed whole grain cereal, not overprocessed crap marketed as baby food. If you feel the need to offer food with no texture you can puree uncooked grains (such as oats, thicker grains depending on your food processor) or grind up cooked grains and freeze individual servings in ice cube trays. Oat bran is already powdered for you, and you can find some other powdered grains depending on the store.

Have you read what is *in* infant rice cereal, oil, oil, more oil, whey (the part of milk most likely to be allergenic), sugar, and chemicals to improve mouth feel. YUM. It has almost no nutritional value except the synthetic vitamins that are added in, and only about 4% - 10% of the iron (the most often referenced need for rice cereal) is absorbed by the baby. Meat, legumes, and green vegetables are much more easily absorbed sources of iron (in order of ease of absorption)

"Cereal is not at all necessary, particularly the baby cereals. Regular (whole grain) oatmeal is more nutritious for your baby."
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html

The truth is, there is nothing special about these foods that makes them better to start out with. Babies don't actually even need rice cereal
http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/ci2.asp

Iron SourcePercentage of Iron Absorbed
iron-fortified cereals 4 - 10%

Answer 4

you can start feeding your baby the oatmeal cereal now, I started feeding my daughter at 31/2 months and i tried the rice but it made her constipated and she did not like it and i only gave it to her like twice and i started giving her the oatmeal and she was fine and my doctor said it was fine, that i just had to make it watery cause it is alittle bit thicker than the rice, but it was fine, he told me that if the rice makes her constipated because sometimes it does to go ahead and just give it to her. I also mix her gerber fruit in the oatmeal and give it to her like that and she loves it.

Answer 5

you can start already. If he's doing good for ccouple weeks on rice I thik he'll be fine. I started to add oatmeal in my baby's milk even before rice cereal and she was ok.